Page 9 of Justified (Ruthless Vigilante #1)

He nodded and gestured around the loft. “As you can see, you have nice, large windows and though it doesn’t look like it from the outside, you have a second level where the bedroom is and an extra bathroom.

Large, open concept. The appliances aren’t modern and I don’t have any of that granite shit in the kitchen.

But the counters are made of good solid wood and everything works. ”

I walked into the kitchen. He wasn’t lying, there wasn’t any flash to be seen.

But at least everything was here and we didn’t have to supply our own.

I continued my inspection, checking out the bathrooms. One had a shower and the other, a tub.

Again, nothing fancy, but functional. I let the water run, getting the rust out of the pipes a little.

“Water and heat are included,” the landlord called out.

Yeah, I bet. In this neighborhood, one couldn’t be too picky.

The crime rate was high as fuck. I was half expecting to get robbed while checking the place out.

I kind of didn’t want to move here for Jordan’s sake, but he’d only argue that this was exactly where we needed to be.

Where I could clean up the streets, and he’d be right.

I finished my inspection of the place and met back up with the landlord.

“I noticed there isn’t a washer and dryer, can we supply our own?” I asked. We didn’t have any at the moment, but I certainly wanted them.

The landlord nodded. “There’s a place to install them in the kitchen by the pantry.”

I took a quick look at the cubby area and returned to him.

“When can we move in?”

“We?” he asked, one eyebrow cocked.

“My friend and I, we’re roomies.”

“Just roomies?”

“Sometimes we fuck, is that going to be a problem? Our money is green and has probably been up some stripper’s ass just like everybody else’s,” I remarked with probably more attitude than what was needed.

“Hey, calm down. I don’t care who you fuck, it’s strictly from a business point of view for me.

Roommates tend to break up, then paying rent becomes an issue.

If you were a married couple, I’d feel better, but I’ll let it go.

Also, I’ll have to go up a hundred and fifty dollars for more than one tenant,” he said.

Shit, nine-hundred dollars a month? Looked like Jordan was going to have to get a legit job to cover the costs. Me, maybe I would get lucky with my new line of work. “Fine, not a problem. So that’s what…eighteen hundred for the first month to cover rent and security?”

He nodded. “Once you pay that, you can move in whenever you want. Any changes you make to the loft needs my approval, though.”

“Of course. Don’t go anywhere because we’re planning on moving in tonight,” I said.

“As long as you come with the money, it’s all good to me.”

I thanked him, then left to head back home.

“Did you find someplace?” Jordan asked as soon as I walked in.

“Perfect location, too. Okay, let’s get this fucking truck loaded up. Oh, we’re going to need to pull eighteen-hundred bucks out for the landlord.”

“That’s steep,” Jordan commented.

“It is what it is. This place was my first choice, so trust me, you’ll love it.

It’s located in the ass crack of the city and it’s surrounded by pieces of shit.

” I grabbed my favorite chair, lifting it onto my shoulder, then loaded it onto the U-Haul.

I wished we could have backed this into our place.

That way, we could have packed up in private.

As it was, I had to be careful how I loaded the truck with people being able to see me.

Didn’t want them to know how strong I was.

Even so, I thought I caught the eye of a particularly nosey woman.

She was watching us and eating what looked like a bowl of cereal. Jesus, bitch, get your own business.

I went back inside. “Jordan, one of the things I did like about this new place is the fact that there is a large doorway entrance that is big enough to drive a truck through. That means when we do get a new car, we could park it inside our home. That’s going to be so fucking awesome.”

“Yeah, that is perfect. Also, we won’t have to worry about someone stealing it. I loaded most of the little things already,” Jordan told me.

He was obviously proud of his contribution. I was too, I hated tedious work. Speaking of tedious work, the twenty grand was only going to last us so long. We needed real, steady employment.

“Help me with this sofa,” I said.

Jordan scoffed. “Really?”

I pointed at the sofa. “We have a nosey neighbor watching us move. The last thing I want to do is give her something to talk about by walking out of here with the sofa over my head.” I’d spotted the nosey bitch twice since I’d loaded the table and chairs.

“Fine,” Jordan conceded, and he helped me with the sofa.

I broke down the bed and we loaded that together too. We didn’t have much by way of belongings, so it didn’t take us too long to get everything on the truck.

“All right, let’s get the fuck out of here,” I said, walking out of the place.

“We need to drop the keys off in the landlord’s mailbox,” Jordan reminded me.

“Okay, we can do that on the way to our new place.” I climbed into the driver’s seat and he took his place in the passenger’s seat. My little sidekick.